1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to article supports and, specifically, to article supports having pivotal adjustment modes and, more specifically, to audio speaker supports.
2. Description of the Art
Various article supports for adjustably supporting diverse articles on walls, shelves, floors and other support surfaces have been previously devised. Such article supports have been designed with one or more pivotal links or members to enable the support to be rearranged to locate the attached article in any desired position for its intended use. Such supports also enable an article to be supported in its intended or desired orientation despite the orientation of the adjacent support surface to which it is to be mounted.
Supports have also been used with audio speakers to mount such speakers on a wall or ceiling of a room. Such audio support speakers find increasing use in business establishments, such as restaurants, movie theaters, etc., where the broadcast audio sounds must fill large areas, and in residential houses where surround sound is desired. Heretofore, such audio speaker supports have been provided with only limited degrees of movement, i.e., in one plane, either left and right or up and down, but not generally both planes of movement.
It is known to utilize a ball and socket for supporting an audio speaker in order to provide greater degrees of freedom of adjustment in positioning the audio speaker with respect to a vertical wall. However, certain of such ball and socket audio speaker supports have been integrally formed with and designed specifically for a particular manufacturer's speaker. That is, the ball or socket is formed as an integral part of the speaker housing. As such, any damage to the ball and socket support renders the support as well as the attached speaker inoperative insofar as mounting of the speaker is concerned. In other types of ball and socket audio speaker supports, a clevis forming a socket is mounted to the speaker or to a wall mounting plate. A threaded bolt extends through the arms of the clevis to enable a ball to be inserted into the clevis before the bolt is tightened to secure the support and attached speaker in place. However, these types of ball and socket supports are cumbersome to install such that installation of a speaker to a wall or ceiling via a ball and socket support most times requires two people.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an article support particularly suited for mounting audio speakers to a support surface which overcomes the deficiencies associated with previously devised article supports and, particularly, audio speaker supports. It would also be desirable to provide a support which is usable with any type or style of audio speaker. It would also be desirable to provide an audio speaker support which is capable of variably positioning the speaker in any desired position in three dimensions. It would be desirable to provide an audio speaker support which is attachable to any support surface, despite the orientation of the support surface. Finally, it would be desirable to provide an audio speaker support which can be used by a single person to mount an audio speaker to a wall, ceiling or other support surface.